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Truth of the matter with WR in 2012

Pittsburgh's receiving corps experienced a huge letdown in 2012 as pending free agent Mike Wallace and emerging stars Antonio Brown and Emmanuel Sanders all took a giant step backward during the season.

Wallace, who's protracted holdout alienated the fanbase, became a player with almost zero effort who dropped easy passes and big-play balls alike.

Brown, who signed a nice extension before the season, became drop-prone as well and made some serious mental errors down the stretch on punt returns and on offense that led to losses.

Sanders simply couldn't get on track, but emerged from the season as the most consistent of the team's receivers.

In 2013, the Steelers must help Ben Roethlisberger by coaching the mistakes out of Brown and Sanders, replacing Wallace with free agent Plaxico Burress, who needs a bigger role out of the slot and in the red zone, and once again, involving possession receiver Jerricho Cotchery in the system.

and BTW, a nice little fact to think about. Every winning QB except one this weekend ended up with > 8 yds/pass att. We all witnessed what a big, strong WR can do to save/make a play. There were plenty of 'jump balls' thrown up yesterday in every game, that were caught only by sheer strength to the ball. Ben desperately needs one. He's got the TE but without a wideout to grab that jump ball

Seeing as how Wallace is a 1 trick pony & easy to replace, the most concerning paragraph in that article is the 3rd one.

I suspect that getting rid of Wallace with be addition through subtraction, and Brown will have his best season ever. When you have a buddy who has a bad team attitude, it tends to influence others in a negative way. Get rid of the crappy attitude Wallace and the unit will likely gain more positive attitudes.

and BTW, a nice little fact to think about. Every winning QB except one this weekend ended up with > 8 yds/pass att. We all witnessed what a big, strong WR can do to save/make a play. There were plenty of 'jump balls' thrown up yesterday in every game, that were caught only by sheer strength to the ball. Ben desperately needs one. He's got the TE but without a wideout to grab that jump ball

Our #1 WR didn't even __TRY__ to muscle for a ball, or even bother to catch it at its highest point. The WRs you reference did. But, wasn't that once the trait of Plex? Is he just too old to function in that manner these days?

Our #1 WR didn't even __TRY__ to muscle for a ball, or even bother to catch it at its highest point. The WRs you reference did. But, wasn't that once the trait of Plex? Is he just too old to function in that manner these days?

It's not only out muscling the defender for the ball, although that would be nice, but also forcing the pass interference. Burress, in his limited playing time, had 2 pass interference calls for us. One inside the 10 and the other in the endzone. He also provided that big body that Ben has been looking for since Burress left and that value showed with his TD catch in the last game.

I'm not sure how many plays Burress was on the field for this year but I would bet it was under 30 and he was responsible for 3 touchdowns. Not a bad ratio.

I suspect that getting rid of Wallace with be addition through subtraction, and Brown will have his best season ever. When you have a buddy who has a bad team attitude, it tends to influence others in a negative way. Get rid of the crappy attitude Wallace and the unit will likely gain more positive attitudes.

I hate to break it to you, but there is no world in which Plaxico Burress now is a better WR than Wallace.

Wallace had an awful year and will probably be overpaid, but his departure leaves the Steelers with a below average group of WRs and another hole that needs to be filled.